Youth Demand have “swarmed” roads in central London to highlight the situation in Gaza and the ongoing climate crisis.
Around 65 activists gathered at Brunswick Square Gardens at around 11am before splitting into two groups and blocking traffic on Euston Road near King’s Cross station at 12.15pm.
The groups could be seen holding signs saying “Youth Demand an End to Genocide” and “Stop Arming Israel”, while waving green flares as they blocked the road for around 10 minutes.
Police officers arrived shortly after and issued the group with a warning under Section 7 of the Public Order Act.
Just over an hour later at 1.30pm Youth Demand protesters again split into two groups and blocked further routes in central London.
One group of protesters blocked Old Street Junction until around 1.55pm, while another group of 20 activists took action at Baker Street for around half an hour.
Youth Demand, an offshoot of Just Stop Oil’s youth wing, has demanded the UK government impose a full arms and trade embargo on Israel and immediately halt the development of new oil and gas projects.
The group, which describes itself as leaderless but guided by a "strategy team", said politicians had committed a “betrayal of our generation,” and warned of an “unimaginable outbreak of collective power, creativity, love and defiance.”
Youth Demand hit the headlines recently after six of its female supporters were arrested at a Quaker meeting house in central London — the first such arrests at a Quaker site in living memory, according to the faith group.
Quakers in Britain condemned the move as an “aggressive violation” after Metropolitan Police officers detained the women at Westminster Meeting House on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
More than 30 officers were said to have been involved in the arrests, which police said were linked to concerns over plans to “shut down” London this month using disruptive tactics.
